Rummy's replacement: Bob Gates, currently the president of Texas A&M and a former CIA head under both George the Elder and Bill Clinton. What's more, Gates was an assistant and depty. nat'l. security advisor to George H.W. Bush, and is currently a member of the Baker-Hamilton Commission

Call me sentimental, but Sheldon Whitehouse's win over Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island's US Senate race is the one Democratic victory I can't get excited about.

I know, I know--Whitehouse's victory could end up giving the Dems control of the Senate. So what's my damage? First off, when I interviewed Chafee for an article on his Republican primary race against Steve Laffey, he struck me as this odd, gentle, fragile figure.

The cover of one New
York tabloid blared “It’s Her Party” on the cover
this morning, and the accompanying photo was of Hillary Clinton, not Nancy
Pelosi. That was an outlier, even in NYC. Newsday put Pelosi on its cover with
the words “It’s her House.” The Post said “Dems Clean House,” and relegated Clinton to a minor “Hill &
Eliot Win” subhead.

Throughout his campaign for governor, Deval Patrick made a point of saying that his candidacy transcended mere politics. Thanks to you, he told audiences again and again, a political campaign became a movement for change.

Last night, as he celebrated his landslide win over Republican Kerry Healey at the Hynes Convention Center, Patrick upped the ante: the existential revolution (my words) his campaign started could continue--would continue--when he takes over as governor.

When the Kerry Healey folks assembled the Republican Party luminaries on the stage at the Copley Place Sheraton ballroom, in preparation for her concession speech, there weren't many household-recognizable faces; what few remain in the party are distancing themselves from her as rapidly as possible.

Tonight's national vote seems to be, first and foremost, a massive denounciation of the current Iraq War policy. That would seem to put 2008 national Republican candidates -- like, oh, I don't know, Mitt Romney -- in a difficult spot.

So, I asked Romney's mouthpiece Eric Fehrnstrom whether, given tonight's vote, Republicans and Romney in particular will need to reposition themselves on Iraq, perhaps even in opposition to the President.

Here's what Brian McNiff, spokesman for secretary of state Bill Galvin, told me a few minutes ago about ballot shortages in Boston:

"We understand that what happened was, some precincts ran low. They called in, and the Boston Police were shipping [additional ballots] out by cruiser. And anybody who is in line will get to vote, even if it's past 8 pm.

Until then, ponder what this could do to Deval Patrick's margin in the governor's race.

UPDATE: The Herald (6:40 pm with a short blog post) and Globe (7:02 pm with a full-fledged story) have been on this for a while. Nothing on Blue Mass. Group yet. Also, nobody's picking up the phone at at City Hall right now.